By: Chris “Topher” Aderhold

Members of Camp Gray's Summer Staff 2012 are getting acquainted with Panda Ball!

All around me, as I sit in my corner of the quaint Camp Gray office, there is busyness of planning, training, and construction.

Currently, the finishing touches are being put on the recently poured foundation of the new retreat space/office complex. Additionally, a crew from Badger Swimpools is preparing the new swimming pool for plastering – which will occur on Monday – and also, a large auger attached to a Bobcat is rumbling around boring holes just beyond the baselines of the new basketball court for the new basketball hoops.

And that’s just the craziness of our many spring construction projects. As I type, five members of Summer Staff 2012 are in town being trained as professional lifeguards, and two of our Staff are getting well acquainted with our rock wall, as they’re getting trained as professional rock-wall specialists. Pat, our head-cook, met with food reps this morning to begin planning the Summer Camp menu, and the rest of the members of the Summer Camp Administrative Team are here early, too. They’re here preparing their respective programs to ensure that every single one of our 1,200 campers this summer leaves having been impacted by the faith and fun of Camp Gray.

Yes indeed, all this activity means only one thing; Summer Camp is upon us. This is truly the best time of the year.

With even more busyness to come – the rest of our 50-strong Summer Staff will be arriving this weekend as Staff Training begins on Monday and 10 sessions of Summer Camp begins a week after that – I currently have a woebegone look upon my face. No, I don’t have a sense of woe due to the busyness – we love the busyness around here, which is why we are Camp people. I have a sense of woe because it has come time for me to take a sabbatical from the weekly Camp Gray blog feature; Tuesdays with Topher.

<Go ahead… I’ll give you a minute to grab a tissue to dab your eyes…>

When we launched the Tuesdays with Topher feature back in December, I knew that this day would come. My hope is to update you, our loyal fans of Camp Gray, with an occasional blog post this summer, but likely I won’t have the time to invest fully in a weekly update. Don’t fret, the TWT will be back in early September, as I’m certain there will be an abundance of great stories from Summer Camp to share! AND, as always, we’ll be, fairly often, updating our facebook and twitter pages with photos, quotes, and videos!

I want to thank you for being a loyal reader of the Camp Gray blog – and of the Tuesdays with Topher feature.

It’s going to be a great, great Summer, friends!

Peace!

Do you have questions (about CG, sports, faith, coffee… anything!) for the semi-regular Tuesdays with Topher mailbag? Email! Thanks to those that have already emailed over questions!  Check out the latest mailbag by clicking here.